Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new. (2 Cor 5:17)
What
happens to us when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior? Paul tells in 2
Corinthians that we are a new creation. It
is more than just a ticket to heaven, so much more. God changes us. We are not the same as we were before. Our sin nature is gone, replaced with a new
nature. Our perspective changes, our old
values are gone, replaced with righteousness.
Everything about who we are is fundamentally changed.
This is a
life changing experience for all of us and this change is necessary. Christ now lives in us. Most of this change happens on the inside,
the result of this change is what people see on the outside. Our new perspective changes how we interact
with the world, how we see things, and how we respond.
I remember
when I accepted Christ’s call and gave my life to Him. A travelling ministry was in town ministering
through music and song. Each night for
the first few nights a battle erupted in my heart when they had the alter call. I can remember sitting in my seat, watching
as others went forward, crying as I felt the battle rage within, wanting to go
forward but not able to do so. Finally,
on the last night I stepped forward.
The
previous nights it had been a hard, almost painful cry. That night I cried as I went forward, but it
was not the same as before. It was a cry
of peace and joy, and looking back I can also see it was a cry of victory. The battle for my heart had been fought and
won. As I think back to that night I
find myself crying in gratitude to Jesus for all He has done for me in my life.
At the time
I did not understand the change that happened that night. I knew something was different but couldn’t
have told you what it was. Now, all these
years later, I shudder to think of what my life would be like if I did not have
Jesus in my life.
You may be
wondering if there anything that doesn’t change?
Actually
there are lots of things that don’t change.
The bills
still need to be paid, the tire is still flat on the car, strained
relationships, a job you don’t like, the baby is sick, the results of bad
decisions we have made in our lives, I could go on but you get the point. Remember we have changed; the stuff going on
around us has not. We still need to deal
with where we are in life. But the good
news is that we now have an advantage we did not have before. We have Christ in us.
With our
new perspective we can see things in a different light, possibilities where we
did not see any before. We have
hope. Maybe for the first time in our
lives we have hope.
